


Only a Woman

by SpaceCat



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-30
Updated: 2013-12-30
Packaged: 2018-01-06 16:32:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1109055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceCat/pseuds/SpaceCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who comforts a superhero?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only a Woman

**Author's Note:**

> I only just saw The Avengers for the first time last night. I woke up at 3am this morning with this scene rolling around in my head. I got up, grabbed a notebook and started scribbling. This is pretty rough, and I'm not familiar enough with the characters to know more of their back-story than a few seconds of scanning Wikipedia will allow, so if I've committed any major atrocities, let me know!

> "Sir, how does it work now? They've gone their separate ways, some pretty extremely far. We get into a situation like this again, what happens then?"
> 
> "They'll come back."
> 
> "You really sure about that?"
> 
> "I am."
> 
> "Why?"
> 
> "Because we'll need them to."

* * *

I left Director Fury with the impression that I didn't know where any of the Avengers team had gone. That was a lie. I had a pretty good idea where at least one of them had gone, and at the first opportunity bee-lined straight to the dingy little hole in the wall that she called her lair.

I found her collapsed on what passed for a couch and covered in grime from the fight with the Chitauri. Carefully I knelt down next to her and stroked her hair. "Tash?"

One bloodshot eye opened. "Hey, Mar."

"You look like hell. Did you bring back _all_ the dirt from the streets of New York?"

"Feels like it." She shifted on the couch, trying to get more comfortable, and stifled a groan. Not even in front of me would she admit to the weakness of pain.

"I saw most of the news footage; those were some nasty hits you took."

One eye opened again and looked at me guardedly for a long moment before she gave in. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure my bruises have bruises."

I didn't know whether to be delighted at the admission or worried that she hurt enough to admit it. She might have been Biotech enhanced, but Natasha was still human and there was a stiff price to be paid for her abilities. "Come on, Superhero." I pulled her to her feet. "Let's get you cleaned up."

I led her unresisting to the bathroom and started the shower. While the water was getting warm, I removed her suit. She stood passively and didn't resist. I often wondered if she had been born fighting. Somewhere in her past she had learned to never let her guard down, never let anyone close, and never let anyone touch her inside where it mattered. Even loving was a battle for her, so now I really was worried. I undressed quickly while she stood there naked.

That woke her up enough that she opened both eyes. "Hey," she touched the fresh wounds on my face, "you got hurt too."

I had pulled off the bandages that some passing medic had plastered on once I was sure the bleeding had stopped. I looked her up and down, losing count at the number of cuts and bruises. They were starting to heal already, unlike my own. "Not in as many places as you, now get in the shower." I pushed her in as I spoke and followed closely behind, grabbing a soft washcloth. She closed her eyes again under the spray and let me wash every inch of her. I took my time, careful to clean every indignity from her skin, and indulged myself in this unprecedented opportunity to show her that someone cared without her resisting.

Once we were both clean and dry, I pulled her to the next room and settled her on the bed face down and gave her a pillow to hold onto. Not bothering to cover either of us up, I straddled her and began to gently knead the tense muscles in her shoulders and back. "Tell me if this hurts." Not that she would; I suspect she thinks she probably deserves it.

"So tell me about fighting the Chituari." She murmured unintelligibly into the pillow. If that didn't get a rise out of her, then something else must have put that look of quiet defeat on her face. "How was working with Captain Rogers?" He had been directing the fight and I knew that she didn't take orders well. No murmur this time. I wish for once she'd just tell me what was bothering her instead of having to play 20 questions.

"So what was it like meeting a god?" She stiffened a little at that but I ignored the reaction out of long practice. "Thor doesn't seem like a bad guy, but Loki… man, he gave me the creeps." She shifted slightly again at that. Bingo. "You talked to him down in the cell, didn't you?" I rose up briefly to roll her over and suppressed that part of myself that was completely aroused by having her beneath me like this.

"So what did he say?" I continued the rub down starting with her neck and shoulders again, and then moving down to her breasts. She was stunning, cuts and bruises notwithstanding. She still said nothing and I reached down between her legs and added a more intimate element to the massage. "Tell me what he said, Tash."

She moaned faintly and her hips rocked in time with my strokes. I added my mouth, licking and suckling her breasts as I nudged her legs apart. I slid down between them and she gasped when I added tongue to fingers and worked her gently. She rocked against me harder and I relished the taste of her, amazed that she was allowing this. I entered her with two fingers, then three and the thrusts of her hips began in earnest. I knew she was close and didn't try to prolong it, because whether she'd admit it or nor not, she needed this. I pistoned steadily into her and pushed her over the edge.

She cried out loudly as she came, and I drew her shudders out with my tongue until she tugged my hair. "Mar, please. Enough."

Both the cry and the orgasm were victories; it was rare that she relaxed with anyone enough to come, let alone give her lover vocal evidence of the fact. I was glad and a little smug, but hid both from her. I crawled up alongside her and pulled her against me. She rarely let me hold her either. I rested her head on my shoulder and stroked her hair until her breathing settled. "Come on, Tash, tell me what he said."

Already half asleep she mumbled, "Can never wipe the ledger… too much red…"

Yes, that would be the button that Loki would punch. I held her close as she drifted down into sleep. Tomorrow she would have to be tough as nails again, for the world's sake as well her own, but for now she rested in the only comfort she would allow herself. She loves Barton all right, no doubt of that, but after a lifetime of lies, brainwashing and betrayal… she trusts no man.

When the hurt goes that deep, only a woman can comfort a woman.

=End=

 

**Author's Note:**

> Questions, comments, suggestions, insults, or typos can be directed here: atomic.space.kitteh [at] gmail [dot] com  
> =^..^=


End file.
